Namaskar, brothers and sisters of the Pod. It is truly an epic new year. I'm currently writing from a terminal in Rishikesh, India, 'the Yoga capital of the world.' I've spent the past couple of months in the Himalayas, engaged in an intensive Yoga teacher training course while living in Dharamsala, the abode of the Karmapa and the Dalai Lama. It's been an incredibly rewarding experience. Once it started there was practically zero free time for painting, but after a month of spending 7 hours a day practicing asanas and absorbing yogic philosophy, the training is concluded: I am now a certified yoga teacher.

The course ended with a climactic journey down from the mountains to the Kumbha Mehla, just in time for the most auspicious day in Hindu culture, the Maha Shivaratri. I have uploaded the photos to my facebook profile, as well as the contents of my sketchbook to the sketches/whiteboards/napkins thread. I will let them tell the full story, and instead move on to post my latest work.

Triumvirate

Holographic Triumvirate - To be printed as a lenticular

Cyberspacial Telepathy

- This was originally a live piece that I worked on at the Final Oracle Gathering, side by side with Android. That was a grand occasion This piece was printed in a magazine that was released at the Rainbow Serpent Festival in Australia last month. The director of the magazine gave me a list of articles to pair my work with, I selected one about an issue that I feel strongly about, the mining of coltan for use in consumer electronics.

I think this issue is important because it illustrates the responsibility to use our technology to sublimate the very system that produces it. The director was stoked on the work, he included my Urban Subversion piece as well, giving me a double spread and telling me that he wants to fly me out to Melbourne for next year's festival. Looks like I just locked down my first gig as an international performance artist.

Ecstatic Shakti Alignment - Live at the Blissjungle

Neuromural

-This one began as a long brush development session, and ended up like this. I made a lot of new tools that night.

Burmese March, v2

Shakti Insight, v2

I dove back into these older pieces and took another pass at them for use as limited edition prints.

Flyer art

Rain City Groove - Live at the Groove Drive.

-Portraits

Communicatrix

Dreamkitty

Integral Innovator. Much love, Jay.

My teacher, Sivadas - We were singing the morning mantras when I flipped this open for him. He kept trying to sing while bursting out laughing. That was fun.

Album art for Mariahji. A little more colorful than I would suggest, but he knew what he wanted. It's a SICK album, he did a great job.

-Clothing Design

Acting on some advice from Xavi, I've made a couple of forays into the realm of fashion to bolster my character design skills.

Datachurch Guardians - Still rough, these are intended to flank the Datachurch site. Had to jump on the plane before we could get it totally dialed in, looks like it will have to wait until I'm jacked back into a cable connection unless Jael and McWilly get the chance to take a pass at it.

Icon Sheet - I spent the last month before I left jamming out several of these a day. They are buttons for a facebook-based superhero game startup. Good practice, and I'm even getting paid what I asked for them! That will be a big help in financing studio time here.

-Illuminated Concepts

I made this for Phong shortly before leaving the states. My homie Paul gave me a crash course in the art of using color and lighting filters in photoshop, an essential skill for the environmental concept artist.

These last two are actually a year old.

I made this under the watchful guidance of Phong and Xavi during our first meeting at the Dreamberry.

More to follow. I've got a couple of widescale works in progress from my time in Dharamsala, but I'll wait to post until they're finished.

I saw a wild elephant drinking from the opposite bank of the Ganga yesterday.

I love the rhythm of waking, dreamjournaling, asanas in the dawn, pranayama, an hour of meditation, and moving into art flow for the rest of the day.

I feel like I am doing a pretty good job of living life to its fullest. I have so much to be grateful for.

looking through this entire thread, i came across the Buddha piece (which i see you've now developed further) and it reminded me of the first time we met. It was at the CHAC when i was setting up the art/vendor room and you were looking for the best place to hang that painting. Remember how i told you i thought it should be the first thing people see when they walk into the room and suggested we put it right in the center of the back wall? I felt that because i immediately had a vision that pulsed from my third eye to my heart and i saw you in flash-forward to where you are right now. Scanning through the progression of your work has brought great joy to my heart for you, and to learn that you have received yoga teacher certification in India...wow, i had no idea you were planning on doing that. Blessings to you, Geo, you have inspired me beyond words. Do share more whenever you can.

I like the positive influence your journey is having on your work. That Buddha and the portrait of your teacher are really great. I also like the big "sketches and whiteboards" drop you just made, there are some didgeriDoodles in there for sure. Keep the flow going.